What are you LISTENING for?

listening-ear1Do you ever pay attention to how you are listening?  More importantly, what are you listening for?

I typically start my workshops off with some sort of goal setting by the participants.  I’ll ask individuals to set a goal they have for themselves as a result of attending the session.  My intention is to have them answer the dreaded what’s in it for me question.

I have the participants write this down on a 3×5 card or a giant post-it. Something they can keep in front of them during our time together.  After they have completed this, I then follow it up with these simple instructions:

“Now, listen for this as the content of the workshop starts to unfold.”

This simple instruction can create a filter, a perspective, a point of view in which to hear everything from.  It’s the easiest – and quickest – way for me to get learning to stick for individuals and tie back into the goal they have created for themselves.

When we start to LISTEN FOR something, we start to make connections.  We also start to be engaged as learners.  As learners we start creating meaning for the content that is being shared.  It’s when learners can create context and relationship where real change in performance can occur.

So, what are you listening for today?

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The Coach Approach to Feedback

Getting feedback can be vital to growth and development.  Many managers don’t give feedback (1) often enough, or (2) in a way in which people can hear it.  Some managers don’t like to get feedback themselves and therefore, when they dole it out their staff really don’t want to hear it.  As a manager, someone responsible for the development of their employees, it’s important to also be open to receiving feedback. Try using the Coach Approach to giving and receiving feedback.

Next time you have a one-on-one with an employee (I hope you ARE having these), and you want to give some feedback how about starting your conversation like this?

Let’s talk about the communications project you recently completed.  On a scale of 1 – 10 (1 low, 10 high) how did it go?

When the employee gives a number, ask “What would have made it a 10?” And then listen, really listen.  You might also be able to add your input, but this comes after your employee has had a chance to tell you some ways in which they could’ve made it a 1o.

Now, what’s going to make this dialogue even better is when your employee has a higher level of trust with you.  How do you increase your trust? Simple.  Start asking for feedback yourself.  And use the Coach Approach.  I heard a story from a coach who used this with his son.  He’d routinely check-in and ask, “So Johnny, on a scale of 1-10 how was I as a dad today?”  Gutsy, right?  Yep!  You need to be open to what the number is – and following up by asking, “what would have made you say 10?”

Ask the question.

Be open to the response.

And see what you might be able to do differently next time.

On a scale of 1-10, how useful is this method for you in getting feedback?

(What would have made it a 10?)

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5 C’s to Employee Engagement

I did a session a couple of weeks ago for staff at the University of MN on Engagement.  In preparation, I did some research on the topic – it’s even more critical in today’s world!  I kept coming up with information written for managers.  What managers could do to increase the engagement, or line of sight, with their employees.  (Part of my research exposed me to the 10 C’s by George Ambler, of the Practice of Leadership) Great, but what if your manager is like other in leadership who seem to becoming increasing disengaged in their own work? Here’s what we get to control:

✓ Clarity

✓ Communication

✓ Career

✓ Collaborate

✓ Confidence

I wanted this workshop to be geared towards employees. Employees who after a quick shot of 45-minutes could control their own Engagement and not have to rely on whether or not their manager was going to do something.  Yes, I do believe that managers/supervisors play an important role.  AND, I wanted to give some options – choices – to employees.  With choice, one can feel empowered! That was my aim for the session.

The X Model

I introduced the X-Model from Blessing White. I’ve gone to this well a number of times for really great resources on Employee Engagement and Leadership Development.   The model depicts an apex, or overlap where the organization and individual are getting their goals met.  This apex is where employees have maximum satisfaction and organizations see maximum contribution.  Cool view if you can get to the apex.

What might you do to get even closer – or stay in – the apex?

What can the individual employee do to take control of their own engagement?

The 5 C’s:

Clarity.               Clarity in your role and responsibility within the organization. How does the work you do on a daily basis contribute to the mission of your organization?  How does your unit contribute to the overall mission of the organization?  Asking for this clarity from your manager, if you don’t already have it is one step to take in increasing your own engagement.

Communication.          Regularly have conversation with your manager about your work and your department. This can be formal, like weekly one on one’s. It can also be informal, just stopping in to connect.  You might even think about your customers or other stakeholders – how have their needs changed in today’s world? Do they still need the service – or experience – you provided them in the past? Or does something need to change to meet their changing needs?  Talk about it.  Get in it! This type of communication is important when it comes to engagement.

Career.              Find ways in which to have rewarding and challenging assignments, duties, projects, or conversations that will help advance your career – or that will challenge you to think differently in your current career. It’s about networking. Create relationships that you can foster and cultivate. In your organization and out.  Another way to enhance your career is by creating an Individual Development Plan with your manager.  This allows you to take control of your own career development.  It’s also helping with the second C (Communication) of Engagement as well.

Collaborate.            Research shows that when people can work together in teams they develop trust and cooperation; they outperform individuals and create relationships with each other.  These are key ingredients found in people who are truly engaged in the work they do.

Confidence.            Being able to develop in an area in which you are competent and confident creates a stronger sense of engagement with your work.  Ask yourself, what is a relevant area that benefits both you and the organization in which you can focus some energy around and increase your confidence?  The key is to find the overlap between your needs, wants, and interests and those of the organization. We tend to feel better about the work we do when we know what is expected and when we have the skills to be successful with it.

It’s about developing confidence, not becoming complacent.

When you look at these 5 C’s which one of these can you try on this week? Put your focus on this one C for the next couple of weeks.  Might it have a difference in your level of engagement?  I can tell you it’s not going to subtract from it.

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Law # 2: How a situation occurs arises in language

Working as an Organizational Development consultant, this Law of Performance really speaks to me.  Organizations are created through conversations.  When you think of your own organization, what kinds of conversations are happening?  They have the power to bring an organization to the top – or to it’s knees. 

We make meaning of the language we use. 

The words we use don’t have meaning, it’s how the situations occurs to us that creates this meaning.  This might be why there can be so much miscommunication when information is announced.  This of all the elements that shape the way in which we hear the actual words said.  

When an organization, or individuals, have a high level of trust things occur in a way that is very different when trust isn’t present. The same words can be said and we can leave with very different interpretations depending on our level of trust with the sender of the message.  

So, in essence, what’s not said is equally as important.  Trust is something that is not said, and provides a thick filter for us to hear this message.   

The key here, is are you present to this filter?  Do you have the awareness in place on how language occurs differently for each of us?  When you do, you can better communicate with others because you know how things occur might be different for different individuals.   

Addressing the unsaid is one of a number of steps we can do to increase our performance. It’s easier to talk about it once you bring it to the surface, isn’t it?  The other choice is to make your own meaning of the unsaid and be unclear.  Doesnt’s clear expectations = better performance?  

Zaffron and Logan state, “…articulating the unsaid creates the room to say something new.” It allows us to use language to create something new as well. Within here lies the increase to our performance. 

What are you creating?

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